ABSTRACT

Many studies have already been performed on the thermal annealing of fresh and aged swift heavy ion-irradiated polymers in a vacuum. In this paper we examine the influence of different environments on annealing behaviour. The basic tool for this study is current/voltage spectroscopy with the alternating voltage applied across the etched tracks. In previous work of this series it was shown for etching of previously annealed aged swift heavy ion-irradiated polyethylene terephthalate foils in dry air that at ∼ 50°C, a dip overlapped the expected Arrhenius correlation in the Arrhenius plot of the etchant breakthrough times. We had attributed that dip tentatively to the etching of the swift heavy ion track core material, as the latter had been subjected to extremely high radiation-damage and thus differs strongly in its composition from pristine bulk material. Repetition of this experiment under different annealing environments enables us to draw conclusions about the competition between the different polymeric disintegration and healing mechanisms in swift heavy ion tracks. These results should be useful for better estimation of the polymeric durability in different environments. First tests with polyimide reveals that a similar dip structure also shows up here, indicating that this finding may be a general effect for annealing of ion-irradiated polymers.

摘要

已经对新鲜和老化的快速重离子辐照聚合物在真空中进行热退火进行了许多研究。在本文中，我们研究了不同环境对退火行为的影响。这项研究的基本工具是电流/电压光谱学，在蚀刻的磁道上施加交流电压。在该系列的以前的工作中，它显示了在干燥的空气中蚀刻先前退火的老化的快速重离子辐照的聚对苯二甲酸乙二酯箔，在约50°C的温度下，浸蚀与蚀刻剂突破时间的Arrhenius曲线中的预期Arrhenius相关性重叠。我们将其暂时归因于对快速重离子径迹磁芯材料的蚀刻，因为后者受到了极高的辐射损伤，因此其组成与原始的散装材料有很大的不同。在不同的退火环境下重复进行该实验，使我们能够得出关于快速重离子径迹中不同聚合物崩解和修复机制之间竞争的结论。这些结果应有助于更好地估计不同环境下的聚合物耐久性。首次使用聚酰亚胺进行的测试表明，此处也显示出类似的浸入结构，表明该发现可能是离子辐照聚合物退火的一般效果。在不同的退火环境下重复进行该实验，使我们能够得出关于快速重离子径迹中不同聚合物崩解和修复机制之间竞争的结论。这些结果应有助于更好地估计不同环境下的聚合物耐久性。首次使用聚酰亚胺进行的测试表明，此处也显示出类似的浸入结构，表明该发现可能是离子辐照聚合物退火的一般效果。在不同的退火环境下重复进行该实验，使我们能够得出关于快速重离子径迹中不同聚合物崩解和修复机制之间竞争的结论。这些结果应有助于更好地估计不同环境下的聚合物耐久性。首次使用聚酰亚胺进行的测试表明，此处也显示出类似的浸入结构，表明该发现可能是离子辐照聚合物退火的一般效果。